Tag: European refugee crisis

l for solidarity actions from free the moria 35 in connection with the upcoming trial (20 april). The moria 35 are a group of refugees falsely arrested and tried for criminal activity at a concentration camp (“refugee camp”) in moria in Greece last year. It is believed they were targeted by the authorities because they had been protesting against how the camp was run

, something that contradicted official narratives peddled by those managing the prisons. Shared from the freethemoria35 blog (& see the original post to follow the links to how you can help).

You can take several actions, as an individual or as a group, to help fight for justice for the Moria 35. To take action now, click here.

On 18 July 2017, 35 people were arbitrarily arrested during a violent police raid in Moria camp after a peaceful protest. The police broke up the protest with teargas and clashes between police and a handful of protesters followed. Many of the 35 accused were not even present during the events. They were arrested and brutal police violence was used.

The criminal jury trial starts on 20 April in Chios. The 35 risk up to 10 years in prison and possible deportation.

Statement from Arash Hampay, one of three refugees on hunger strike in the prison camp Moria, greece. The have been on hunger strike for one month already. Copied from his blog.

Yes you can

Yes, you can torture us, imprison us, humiliate us, do whatever your heart desires with us. You know well that refugees are the most refugeless, the lonliest and the most defenceless. If none cares for them and stands with them, none is going to defend them and opposes you for their sake. You know well that our governments are not like the governments of USA, CANADA, GERMANY and OTHERS who defend and protect their citizens when they are in trouble abroad and create international crisis for the sake of their citizens. If we had states who cared for us, we would not be refugees in your countries. We would not be tortured in your prisons. You know that well and you seem to be very comfortable with that knowledge.

Know very well, that we shall strike as we stroke in our country against injustices, and did not keep silent.

Both of us shall strike. You strike with your swords, your whips, your prisons but we shall strike with our pen and our candle. We do not strike the sword in the darkness in order to show our strength, we lit our candle. Our pen and our candle is more powerful than your sword. We know and you know that we shall defeat you in this DAVID VERSUS GOLIAT struggle. We are the people, you are the government. At last the meal of victory is going to be eaten by the people, as ever. Instead of applying a healing cream on our wounds, you apply salt. But let that pass as well.

#KozhinHussein, #BahroozArash has been hunger striking for 26 days. They shall be released as Amir Hampay was released. From this you will only inherit shame.

We insist on our promise. All three of us are going to continue our hunger strike untill the day when Bahrooz and Kozhin shall be released

A few months ago, in the happy days before Trump stole the election or the Brexit referendum or the escalation of Erdogan’s repression following his gift from god, I went to a film. No Pasaran, directed by Daniel Burkholz. A documentary comprised of interviews with veterans from the International Brigades. It was very inspirational. For the most part, it was the events and motivations that led them to join the Brigades that were discussed. Again and again, different interviewees stressed that the Spanish Civil War was a fight against European Fascism in its entirety, and the war in Spain only represented the best place to confront it at the time. As one German Jew recounted how after fighting in Spain and then seeking refuge in France “we proposed to the French army that we could join their army and fight Nazi Germany. They agreed and suggested to us that we enlist and they would station us in North Africa to relieve Foreign Legion soldiers who would be deployed to the German front. So we got together and had a meeting to discuss this and we all agreed that No. Our fight was with Nazi Germany, not to defend the french empire” (warning: quote is a misquote).

A few years ago, 2012 or so, I read The Age of Empire by Eric Hobsbawm. I was very taken with it at the time, in particular the idea that there was a sense of crisis that permeated every aspect of society: the generalised crisis in modernist certainties of progress caused by global recession of the capitalist system, which was only averted through the imperialist project in Africa, something that only temporarily displaced the internal systemic contradictions, but which in a short amount of time just led to renewed inter-national capitalist competition amongst the ‘great powers’, which in turn led to world war and the working classes embracing nationalist sentiment and standing against and slaughtering one another. What amazed me reading it in 2012 was how similar this pre-war period was to the austerity regime we were going through then. Now having seen No Pasaran I’m more inclined to say our period resembles the period prior to the second world war with the changes that have come in the last 5 years. The fascist right are having electoral success in Austria, the Netherlands, Finland, France, Hungary, and the US. In other countries they are strong on the streets, they have infiltrated the police, or even the army, in places like Greece, Britain, and the US. And they are to be seen wearing new clothes in the form of ISIL in Iraq and Syria, and in the likes of Putin and Erdogan in Russia and Turkey. And another similarity with today that was highlighted in the film (although I don’t think they meant to make this analogy) is that in the same way that those fleeing Franco’s Spain to France were put in camps, only to be handed over to the Nazis when France fell, we are doing the same thing today by containing and shipping those fleeing ISIL off to the likes of Erdogan’s Turkey under the EU’s scandalous deal. If you think back to how it was through Coup d’Etats that the Fascists came to power in Spain and Austria in the 1930s, all it would take today is for the military to make a move against Syriza’s government or possibly in Italy, and the ‘refugee camps’ with their razor wires would be a gift horse they wouldn’t look in the mouth. The same with the prison industrial complex which have played up anti-terror hysteria to escalate their practices of policing and imprisoning racial minorities. Although we don’t call them “concentration camps” now, de facto concentration camps is exactly what are being built.

What is clear is that an anti-Fascist movement that is Europe-wide and further towards the Arabian Peninsula is needed. And it is necessary to see all the distinct issues – the far right, austerity, ISIL, refugees, police killings, drone attacks – and to unite them as part of the one system: 21st Century Fascism. Above all, this is a struggle for humanity, and in the spirit of the first intercontinental against neoliberalism and for humanity, the struggle for humanity is the struggle of the left. Although the socialist revolution looks further away than at anytime since maybe the 1980s (with the exception of Rojava), the road to revolution will only be made through walking. As another Brigadista interviewed in No Pasaran described life in Franco’s POW camps: “every morning they would line up three people to be executed. Any last words? Long live socialism, long live anarchism, long live communism! And they were shot” (also a misquote). They died believing that by fighting the fascists they were making the revolution.

There is a lot of work for this anti-21st Century Fascist movement to do. Included within:

Direct aid to refugees, particularly ‘new arrivals’.

Fight the policy whereby refugees are shipped to Turkey

The fight against ISIL is the fight of the Left. Eventhough it is dominated by hostile powers (US, Russia, Turkey), ISIL are the most extreme manifestation of right-wing nationalism, and as such it is our fight. Like the International Brigades went to Spain as the most strategic place to fight European fascism, today we need to unite with the Kurds in Rojava (because with the growing budiness between Erdogan, Putin, and Trump, I reckon the days of US support for Rojava are numbered – although I don’t yet know what to make of the strike on the Syrian military airbase).

Stop the further success of the far right in Europe, whether in elections or on the streets.

Practice community self-defense with targeted groups.

Fight borders. Whether this is physical construction of barriers, intensification of policing the borders, or bio-political-economic control from a distance – where people are dissuaded from crossing or even approaching borders by their associated costs like the dangers of traveling through hazardous routes, extortion by smuggler cartels, the precarious existence of ‘irregular’ living on the other side. The ultimate aim should not just be freedom of movement and refuge for those arriving from unsafe places, but also legal, safe, and free (as in free speech and free beer) passage for all.

Fight against the conditions that strengthen the right: the state of things where the costs of economic crisis are being lumped onto the working classes, or where domestic economies are boosted by fighting foreign wars.

Be prepared to work with liberals where this is likely to lead to direct material improvements in security for targeted groups. But constantly remind the world that it was the liberal centre that empowered the rightist surge by sitting-out and eventually exhausting the left-led mobilisation in the earlier years of austerity.

Work with groups that specifically push beyond the confines of the liberal response. This can include for instance Black Lives Matter, who’s very existance insists that the liberal doctrine is false. I.e. that All Lives Do Not Matter to the US state, regardless of how many times it is written in some laws that they do. Also groups who campaign on the basis of migration as reparation for colonialism, to push beyond the whole ‘migrants are not a threat to our way of life’. We are a threat – we are a threat to and we aim to take down the whole capitalism-colonialism-nationstate nexus.

The “Jungle” camp in Calais, where refugees attempting to reach britain lived, was dismantled last week by the French state, with people being ‘redistributed’ to different centres around the country, in complete disregard for the choice of people forced to leave war conditions. Image shared from Liberation.

The biggest story is still the inspirational prison strike in the US. Most important to share is a compiled list of calls for support. Resources and contact details for offering

Front page of the National following the uk conservative party conference where they announced plans to expel non-essential foreigners, have schools and workplaces report their foreign pupils and workers, exempt the army and police from following human rights legislation, revive a class-appartheid education system, among other atrocities. Source: The Canary

Statement from Notara 26, a squat in Athens which has been hosting refugees and migrants until they were hit in an arson attack the other day. Call for solidarity and support, for open borders and against racism. Shared from Insurrection News.

“ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE HOUSING SQUAT FOR REFUGEES/MIGRANTS NOTARA 26 ABOUT THE ATTACK OF AUGUST 24th

On Wednesday August 24th at 3:45 a.m. the Housing Squat for Refugees and Migrants Notara 26 received an incendiary attack. The acting method of the arsonists we consider to be a clear murderous act, organised with the goal to cause – apart from the serious material damage – also loss of human lives. The timing of this cowardly act was chosen during August, when as the arsonists believed the reflexes of the solidarity movement would be sluggish. In vain though…

After the attack with molotov and gas-bottle bombs the safeguard of the refugees and the assistance of the solidarity acted immediately, using the fire extinguishers of the squat. The over 130 lives that where seriously endangered where saved solely by the immediate reaction of the total of the residents, of the solidarity and the neighbours of the squat, as well as with the participation of the fire department – although it derogatively characterised the Notara 26 squat as a storage in its press release, implying that no people where resident at the location.

This particular event is one link in the long chain of attacks against the migrant squats, refugees, as well as the free social spaces, which consists of a cooperation of state and parastate – where the first acts using the law (Orphanage, Nikis squat, Hurriya) and the second with the usual mafia practices (Vancouver, Avtonomo Steki, Zaimi, Analipsi, Kaniggos) – targeting the solidarity movement.

After the first months of humanitarian mentions in the media about the drama of the refugees and migrants, the emerging reaction of xenophobia and racism radically changed the position of the mainstream mass media and the state, from a “friendly” approach to the matter to one of phobic confrontation of the solidairs and them being targeted unambiguously.

Such actions are incapable of terrorising our solidarity! The fascist scum who prowl in the darkness are very well aware of the consequences they’ll suffer. Their racism has no social basis. It is expressed only in cowardly actions characteristic of the underworld, as a rule uncompleted and failed in the end. Our rage against the state and its terror mechanisms strengthens us and arms us with persistence. Our projects will continue to exist and multiply, housing the damned of the world and frontally crushing fascism where society is active. Our movement creates the necessary cracks in the imposed normality of the state, the media and their fascist goons.

For the last 11 months we, the solidairs and refugees of the Housing Squat for Refugees and Migrants Notara 26, act together according to the foundations of equality, solidarity and horizontal operation in a common day to day struggle for a better life, away and overcoming separations of any kind. Almost 5000 refugees and migrants have passed through the squat, where with the values of self-organisation and self-management, and despite the adversities, the needs for housing, food, education, legal representation, health care and entertainment where covered. A solidarity which is realised continuously from everyone together.

In response to this incendiary action everyone, individuals and collectives, are called to actively support the solidarity projects, thus giving a vigorous answer to the attempted terror regime of the state and the fascists.

The refugee crisis continues as does Europe’s shameful response. Here is an interview with an asylum seeker which touches on the conditions in which asylum seekers are forced to live in Ireland and a revolution of sorts against the management in one of the residential centres and efforts to build a wider asylum seeker movement.

About POSTS OF THE MONTH: Consider this a Twitter feed on a timescale suitable for those of us who still have a life outside of the internet. Brief synopsis of blog posts and articles I found particularly good during the month but which I didnt have time to engage properly with.

A call for Europe-wide action in response to the militarization an imprisonment of refugees in greece, particularly the forced eviction of the Idomeni camp. Join actions, organise new ones, spread the call. Shared from Indymedia Linksunten.

”

– Call for action below – On Tuesday, 24.05.16, parallel to the World Humanitarian Summit in Turkey, the eviction of Idomeni camp officially began. In many ways, a forceful eviction began weeks ago. Idomeni has long been subject of structural violence from both police and state policies, which have slowly but continuously dismantled the camps aid-structures.

In the last few days, fresh water supply was cut, electronic music blasted every night, toilets were locked, and trash was not removed. Doctors, media and volunteers were denied access to the camp, slowly taking away the most basic needs. The distribution of food, dry clothes, tents, blankets, sleeping bags and medical care was systematically blocked.

As of Tuesday, police have forced people by threatening to increase violence to move to the military camps. But so far, media has portrayed the eviction as peaceful, stating that people are leaving voluntarily to military facilities, totally disregarding the aforementioned facts.

However, to represent those at Idomeni as passively accepting the closure of the Balkan route, does not capture the whole picture; compared to overcrowded military camps, Idomeni has remained the least horrible option.

Military camps have been set up in a lackluster and rushed manner, without sufficient infrastructure to cover basic needs, nor the right to move freely in and out of these facilities. Although some camps appear better equipped than others, conditions are widely insufficient.

Scarcely any of these camps have internet access, thereby denying people their right to apply for the asylum or relocation procedure. Food is often inedible and the majority of these camps do not supply baby food or family support. In many cases, the locations chosen are completely isolated, making social integration impossible, and creating a dependence on the poorly supplied structures within the camps. Warm water is only provided in very few camps. The intentional governmental restraint of any information adds up psychological stress to a constant boredom created by a solitary environment.

Let us not forget some of the underlying motives for the eviction of Idomeni camp.

Since the closing of the Balkan route, Idomeni has become a symbol of the struggle for freedom of movement on the borders of Europe. It has unveiled the incompetence of EU powers and the failure of EU policies, which far from solving the EU-political crisis, in turn created a bottleneck, leaving thousands stranded on Europe’s locked borders.

By using media to further perpetuate xenophobic and racist structures and fear of terrorism within the western world, Europe has legitimized closing its borders. Europe exploits the situation to further obtain cheap labor forces in a regulated manner, to sustain and maximize their wealth and security.

As we speak, Idomeni’s forceful eviction has already been implemented and will soon disappear from the frontlines of newspapers. People will nevertheless be kept in indefinite detention that could result in years of waiting in military facilities for Europe to act on their behalf. But most probably the waiting will end in deportation.

Military camps have been portrayed as the next step and “only solution” for those caught up between borders and legal abandonment. They are meant to be “safe places” for people attempting to access the discriminative relocation program or apply for the only choice available for many, asylum in Greece.

But in fact people are shunned into militarized camps to decentralize the problem away from the borders and spreading it throughout Greece. This hides the topic away from the public eye and consequently minimizes the pressure on EU policies to take responsibility. Out of sight, out of mind.

Is this not tarnishing a reaction to the self-interested and exploitative EU immigration policies?

CALL FOR ACTION

This coming week, between the 30.05-05.06, we will once again raise our voices and show our outrage against the structural oppression denying freedom of movement, enforced by Europe and its allies.

This is a call for international solidarity and outrage under the slogan #overthefortress, as otherwise this political and humanitarian crisis will vanish from the public discourse, and thousands will be forgotten. The idea of having any real future has been traded for visa deals and a booming ‘Refugee’ industrial complex. Lets take the responsibility we have and bring people’s hopeless situation caused by structural repression out of the shadows back in to the public perception to burn it into the ignorant mind of European society.

With decentralized and creative actions we want to condemn Fortress Europe’s racist policies and formulate an accusation. Raise your individual voice and show solidarity in protest and action.